North Asheboro development: Another new plan

ASHEBORO — Earlier this month, Asheboro City Council members approved a request for a conditional use permit to build 131 single-family homes on about 50 acres on the city’s northern edge.

The request was noteworthy for a couple of reasons.

For one, it has been just five months since council members approved a request for a mixture of 117 duplexes and triplexes on the property.

Secondly, it has been more than a decade since anyone asked to build that many single-family homes in Asheboro. In 2005, the council OK’ed a conventional subdivision named Heathwood Acres, with 82 lots in phase one and 48 lots in phase two; later, a third phase added 34 lots.

Familiar territory

Council members spent considerable time at their May 4 meeting hearing about and discussing a change of plans for a planned unit development named Waterford Villas.

The original special use permit, issued in 2006, authorized 80 dwelling units on 80 lots — 40 structures with two dwelling units. Construction on Phase 1 began in 2007. Then came the recession, and work ground to a halt. As of May 2017, just 28 lots had been recorded in Waterford Villas — although fewer units than that had been built.

At the May meeting, developer Daniel Stickler told council members his new proposal for Waterford Villas was to develop more townhomes, but smaller townhomes, with smaller price tags.

Council members approved rezoning 13 acres from medium-density residential to conditional use high-density residential for Waterford Villas Phase 2. The following month, they approved a conditional use permit for a planned unit development with 117 units. Development was to be done in sections. In July 13, council members approved plans for Waterford Villas, Phase 2, Section 1, with 26 lots and a common area.

“The very fact that someone is pursuing high-density for this project,” said Trevor Nuttall, the city’s community development director, “indicates there is some market demand out there.”

They’re back

At their regular meeting on Nov. 9, council members entertained a request for a planned unit development called Jackson’s Run. Jackson’s Run will be built where Waterford Villas, Phase 2, was planned.

The new plan calls for more, larger and more expensive dwellings on the undeveloped portion of the property.

The proposed units will vary in size from 1,600-2,100 square feet, with single-story and two-story designs. Each home will have a two-car garage.

Jackson’s Run will be accessible via two entrances off Forest Park Drive. There will be no access from Hub Morris Road; the previous connection with Waterford Villas will be closed.

Dave Hodgman of Wade Jurney Homes, a Greensboro-based regional home builder, told council members that a survey of the local real estate market led to the developer’s change of heart for Waterford Villas.

“Detached-style family housing is much more desirable in the Triad,” Hodgman said. “We find that single-family housing sells at a faster rate than multi-family housing does.”